Senior Scam Prevention and Fraud Resources in Mississippi
Mississippi seniors reported $33 million in elder fraud losses to the FBI in 2025, with 959 victims aged 60 and older. This page provides Mississippi-specific scam prevention resources, official reporting contacts, and five years of FBI elder fraud data for the state.
Already been scammed? Read our First 24 Hours Emergency Guide for critical steps to take immediately.
I. Overview: Mississippi’s Senior Population and Key Cities
As of 2024, Mississippi has a population of approximately 2.9 million, with about 495,000 residents aged 65 and older , accounting for about 16.8% of the total population. Many older adults live in small towns or rural areas, which can make them especially vulnerable to scammers who use phone, mail, or online tactics to commit fraud.
Mississippi seniors lost $33 million to fraud in 2025. Investment scams nearly quadrupled to $16 million (+283%), and government impersonation surged 1,061% from $144K to $1.7 million. Lottery/sweepstakes dropped 55%. Mississippi has the second-lowest per-capita victim rate in the nation, but dollar losses are still significant.
The top three cities with the largest senior populations and highest reported scam activity are:
- Jackson (approx. 145,000 people)
- Gulfport (approx. 72,000 people)
- Southaven (approx. 56,000 people)
II. 2025 Victim Report: How Scammers Targeted Mississippi’s Seniors
In 2025, Mississippi had 959 victims aged 60+ who reported losses totaling $33,087,218 — up 59% in victims and 15% in losses compared to 2024 (604 victims / $29M).
Loss by Crime Type
| Crime Type | 2025 Loss | 2024 Loss | Change |
| Investment | $16,436,648 | $4,295,035 | +283% |
| Tech Support | $1,981,853 | $1,822,203 | +9% |
| Romance | $2,656,691 | $1,941,479 | +37% |
| Lottery/Sweepstakes | $100,550 | $223,905 | -55% |
| Extortion | $34,540 | $42,350 | -18% |
| Government Impersonation | $1,666,063 | $143,540 | +1,061% |
Elder Fraud Loss Trajectory — Mississippi
5-Year Elder Fraud Trend — Mississippi (2021—2025)
| Year | Victims (60+) | Total Loss | YoY Change | Nat’l Rank |
| 2021 | 389 | $5,874,029 | — | #36 |
| 2022 | 356 | $5,459,509 | -7% | #47 |
| 2023 | 434 | $9,328,015 | +71% | #43 |
| 2024 | 604 | $28,870,444 | +210% | #34 |
| 2025 | 959 | $33,087,218 | +15% | #38 |
| 5-Year Total | 2,742 | $82,619,215 | +463% (2021—2025) | — |
Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Annual Reports, 2021—2025. Covers victims aged 60 and older. National rank is by total dollar loss among 52 states/territories. National totals: $1.7B (2021), $3.1B (2022), $3.4B (2023), $4.9B (2024), $7.7B (2025) — $20.8 billion stolen from American seniors over five years.
Top Crime Types Targeting Mississippi Seniors (2025 vs. 5-Year)
| Crime Type | 2025 Victims | 2025 Loss | 5-Year Total | Growth (2021—25) |
| Investment | 78 | $16,436,648 | $25,155,135 | +23,381% |
| BEC | 28 | $5,640,218 | $24,083,501 | +5,940% |
| Romance | 86 | $2,656,691 | $8,426,990 | +12% |
| Tech Support | 109 | $1,981,853 | $7,757,532 | +280% |
| Gov. Impersonation | 76 | $1,666,063 | $2,869,690 | +271% |
| Personal Data Breach | 66 | $1,593,734 | $3,464,207 | +48% |
Top 6 crime types by 2025 losses. Growth calculated from 2021 to 2025. For national crime type trends, see our Crime Type Migration Analysis.
What the data reveals: Mississippi’s elder fraud losses reached $33 million in 2025, with 959 seniors victimized. The dominant trend: investment scams nearly quadrupled from $4.3 million to $16 million (+283%), now accounting for half of all losses. Government impersonation surged 1,061% from $144K to $1.7 million. Tech support was essentially flat (+9%) and romance grew a moderate 37%. Lottery/sweepstakes dropped 55%. Statewide, that comes to roughly one senior victim for every 3,069 Mississippi residents.
National context: Mississippi has the second-lowest per-capita victim rate in the nation at 32.59 per 100,000 (#50 out of 51). While this may partly reflect lower internet adoption and underreporting, it also means individual Mississippi seniors are less likely to be targeted than those in almost any other state. The 283% investment surge and 1,061% government impersonation spike follow national trends but from much smaller bases.
For the full national picture, including how Mississippi compares to every other state, visit our national hub page with interactive data and rankings.
III. Emergency and Official Contacts
Local Police Departments – Elder Fraud and Financial Crimes
1. Jackson Police Department – Investigations Division
- Phone: (601) 960-1234 (non-emergency)
- Website: jacksonms.gov
- Contact for reporting scams, identity theft, or suspicious financial activity.
2. Gulfport Police Department – Criminal Investigations
- Phone: (228) 868-5959 (non-emergency)
- Website: gulfport-ms.gov
- Assists with fraud, elder abuse, and scam reports.
3. Southaven Police Department – General Inquiries
- Phone: (662) 393-8652 (non-emergency)
- Website: southaven.org
- Offers support for scam and elder fraud reporting.
FBI and Federal Scam Reporting
FBI Jackson Field Office (serving all of Mississippi)
- Phone: (601) 948-5000
- Website: www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/jackson
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
- Website: www.ic3.gov
- Use to report phishing, online scams, tech fraud, and digital financial crimes.
Mississippi Attorney General – Elder Fraud and Consumer Protection
Office of the Mississippi Attorney General – Consumer Protection Division
- Consumer Protection Hotline: (800) 281-4418
- Website: www.ago.state.ms.us
- Offers scam alerts, complaint forms, and assistance for elder financial abuse.
Statewide Elder Services and Medicare Fraud Support
Mississippi Adult Protective Services (APS)
- To report elder abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation:
APS Hotline: (844) 437-6282 - Website: www.mdhs.ms.gov
- Coordinates investigations and intervention for at-risk older adults.
Mississippi Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)
- Phone: (877) 272-8720
- Website: www.stopmedicarefraud.org/mississippi
- Helps identify Medicare fraud, overbilling, and health-related scams.
Mississippi Department of Human Services – Aging and Adult Services
- Info Line: (844) 822-4622
- Website: www.mdhs.ms.gov
- Provides elder advocacy, caregiver support, legal assistance, and scam prevention education.
Know the Signs. Report Early.
- Mississippi seniors lose millions annually to scams, often from calls, texts, or deceptive ads.
- Stay alert. Save these contacts. Share with family and community members.
- Visit our Education Center to learn common red flags and safe response strategies.
- You have the right to slow down, verify, and protect yourself. Help is just one call away.
Recent Mississippi scam news
Recent news coverage of scams affecting Mississippi seniors, updated from our alerts desk. Each item links to the original outlet; victims and defendants are kept anonymous.
College student runs free seminars teaching Mississippi seniors to spot AI deepfake scams
A college computer-science student is running free seminars at senior centers across Madison County, Mississippi to teach older residents how to recognize AI-generated deepfakes and online scams, after hearing that a senior had lost $30,000 investing in a scheme built around a deepfake video of a famous tech entrepreneur. She has already reached about 100 residents across seven sessions, with more scheduled through mid-August. Attendees have asked detailed questions and taken notes, a reminder that awareness events like this make it easier to slow down and question a video or voice that seems too convincing before acting on it.
Read at Madison County Journal →South Mississippi woman tried to send $25,000 to scammers. Here's who saved her
A South Mississippi woman nearly sent $25,000 to scammers before someone stepped in to stop the loss.
Read at AOL →More Than Bingo: event aims to help seniors stay safe at home and online
A free Mississippi bingo event will bring scam-safety resources directly to older adults in a familiar setting.
Read at DeSoto Times →The 'phantom hacker' scam: how a months-long con convinces victims to hand cash or gold to a courier
Federal prosecutors describe a growing 'phantom hacker' scheme in which a caller falsely claims a victim's bank or investment account has been compromised, then, days or weeks later, someone posing as a government official tells the victim their money needs to be moved to a 'safe' government account to protect it. After building trust over an extended period, the scammers convince victims to withdraw cash or buy gold and hand it to someone who arrives in person posing as a government agent, sometimes claiming to be a U.S. Attorney or other official. In one related Arizona case, a victim transferred more than $400,000 in assets before realizing it was a scam. No real government agency or bank will ever ask you to withdraw money, buy gold, or hand valuables to a courier to 'protect' them, so if you get a call like this, slow down, hang up, and verify by contacting the agency or bank directly using a number you look up yourself.
Read at U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona →House committee report calls for an 'all-of-ecosystem' approach to fighting scams, including elder fraud
A U.S. House Financial Services Committee report is calling for a coordinated national strategy against fraud and scams, arguing that stopping them requires cooperation across banks, technology platforms, telecommunications carriers, and law enforcement, not just the moment a payment happens. The report cites FTC data showing more than 3 million fraud reports and $15.9 billion in reported losses in 2025, and specifically flags elder exploitation among the scam types it wants better addressed alongside impostor schemes, phishing, and crypto fraud. It recommends stronger consumer education, deliberate friction to slow suspicious transactions, more cross-industry data sharing, and wider use of AI-powered fraud-detection tools, and it launched a new public resource site explaining common scam red flags in plain language. The American Bankers Association welcomed the report's call for a coordinated approach that brings platforms, carriers, and financial institutions into the effort together.
Read at JD Supra →Senate Aging Committee presses nine major AI companies for safeguards protecting older users
The Senate Special Committee on Aging sent letters to nine major AI companies asking what safeguards their AI chatbot 'companion' products have for older adults, people with disabilities, and people in crisis, including how the products are tested, how harms are tracked, and whether independent researchers can access data to study the effects on older users. Companies have until August 31, 2026 to respond. The letters follow a bipartisan committee hearing, held by the committee's Republican chairman together with its Democratic ranking member and another Democratic senator, examining how AI has been used in scams against seniors; at that hearing the committee released a new report citing the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center for almost $21 billion in cybercrime losses in 2025, with $893 million tied to AI-enabled scams. The report's recommendations include a centralized federal scam-reporting portal that would automatically route complaints to the right agency, expanded law enforcement training and cryptocurrency-tracing tools, and new protections against unauthorized AI-generated voice and image replicas. The committee framed it directly: protecting older Americans from AI-enabled fraud and expanding their access to helpful AI tools 'are not competing priorities; they are two sides of the same obligation.'
Read at McKnight's Senior Living →IV. Learn More: Mississippi Scam Prevention Guides
Explore Mississippi-specific guides on the most common scams targeting seniors in your state:
- Tech Support Scams in Mississippi — Learn to recognize fake pop-ups, phone calls, and remote access schemes.
- Investment Scams in Mississippi — Protect your retirement savings from fraudulent advisors and crypto scams.
- Romance Scams in Mississippi — Spot the warning signs of fake online relationships designed to steal money.
- Government Impersonation Scams in Mississippi — Know what real government agencies will never ask you to do.
- How to Report Scams in Mississippi — Step-by-step guide to reporting fraud and starting recovery.
For national-level data on each scam type, see our Investment, Tech Support, Romance, and Government Impersonation national guides.
See how Mississippi compares. Curious where Mississippi ranks in the national picture? Stolen Trust, our 2026 special study, ranks every state and territory using five years of FBI data and lays out one practical plan to fix elder fraud.